Rediscovering Eve

Ancient Israelite Women in Context

Carol Meyers

Detailed reconstruction of the lives and contexts of women in the ancient middle east

Combines close Biblical analysis with informed archeological and anthropological research

New to this Edition:

Reflects recent work in the study of sex and gender by anthropologists, literary critics, and others

Updated archeological research

Rediscovering Eve

Ancient Israelite Women in Context

Carol Meyers

Description

This groundbreaking study looks beyond biblical texts, which have had a powerful influence over our views of women's roles and worth, in order to reconstruct the typical everyday lives of women in ancient Israel. Carol Meyers argues that biblical sources alone do not give a true picture of ancient Israelite women because urban elite males wrote the vast majority of the scriptural texts. Also, the stories of women in the Bible concern exceptional individuals rather than ordinary Israelite women. Drawing on archaeological discoveries and ethnographic information as well as biblical texts, Meyers depicts Israelite women not as submissive chattel in an oppressive patriarchy, but rather as strong and significant actors within their families and in their communities. In so
doing, she challenges the very notion of patriarchy as an appropriate designation for Israelite society.

Rediscovering Eve

Ancient Israelite Women in Context

Carol Meyers

Author Information

Carol Meyers holds the Mary Grace Wilson Professorship in Religion at Duke University. A specialist in biblical studies and archaeology, she is a prominent scholar in the study of women in the biblical world and a trustee of the American Schools of Oriental Research and of the Albright Institute of Archaeological Research. She also serves on the board of directors of the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation and is president-elect of the Society of Biblical Literature.

Rediscovering Eve

Ancient Israelite Women in Context

Carol Meyers

Reviews and Awards

"Through a thorough analysis of biblical and extra-biblical literature, Meyers uncovers the enormously meaningful roles women played and shows how their active participation within and outside the household shaped Israelite society...Meyers' revised work is rich in content, well documented, and a welcome addition to her earlier contribution on this important topic."--Journal for the Evangelical Study of the Old Testament

"[T]his is an excellent and extremely important book, to a large extent the starting point of any current and future discussion of gender issues in ancient Israel--and Carol Meyers is to be thanked for offering this important volume to students of ancient Israel in particular and the ancient world in general." --Review of Biblical Literature

"[Meyers] breaks new ground with a fresh examination of roles of the ancient Israelite women...With numerous expansions and multiple new perspectives, even those familiar with Meyers' 1988 work will find Rediscovering Eve a welcome new monograph in the field of feminist research in biblical studies." --Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology

"Carol Meyers' Discovering Eve was a milestone in feminist scholarship when it was published in 1988, bringing together disciplines that had not previously had much contact. Now, after nearly twenty-five years of further work in feminist and gender studies, archaeological and ethnographic analysis, Meyers' Rediscovering Eve provides a superb study that retrieves the material and cultural conditions of ordinary Israelite women, as well as shedding new light on how to read and understand the account of the mythic Eve. This book is essential reading for introductory courses on Hebrew Bible/Old Testament."--Carol A. Newsom, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Old Testament, Candler School of Theology

"Meyers elegantly documents the Hebrew Bible's minimalist and misogynist views of women in ancient Israel. More importantly, she then proceeds to document this using perceptive new insights into the biblical texts; the pertinent but neglected archaeological data on household activities; and especially a considerable body of ethnographic data unfamiliar to many scholars in our respective fields. This pioneering work goes a long way toward rescuing ancient Israelite women from obscurity, ably demonstrating that they played far more significant roles than we had imagined in the domestic arena, in communal and public life, in the cult, and even in cultural and political life. This is feminist scholarship at its best--neither doctrinaire nor defensive, but simply factual,
honest, incisive, bold scholarship...a landmark publication. It will change the way we view women in ancient Israel, in the church and synagogue, and in the academy." --William G. Dever, University of Arizona

"Rediscovering Eve is thus an enlightening update of a classic work of Biblical and Feminist scholarship as well as a worthwhile read for sophisticated and casual readers alike." --Jewish Book Council

"More than a revision, the new book represents a significant theoretical and methodological advancement in its own right... Meyers is to be commended for her willingness to question, challenge, and reformulate her previously published ideas, instead of using the new edition as a platform to rehash an old theory. Heterarchy holds a great deal of promise for biblical studies, and scholars and students alike will benefit from the introduction she provides. It is to Meyers' credit, moreover, that the book is eminently readable and accessible to a wide audience." --Biblical Interpretation